In The Begginning A Love Story
by believable-pen
Summary: Written from Jack's point of view, his love for his Welshman
1. Chapter 1

_**This is written fro Jack's POW. Comments welcome**_

In The Beginning…. My Love Story

By Captain Jack Harkness

Where to begin my love story, and, believe me, it is a love story, with dating, kissing and all the other things that lovers do. Well, nearly all. I just wasn't quite sure how the person I loved, felt about me. Not at first. But, that's all part of it, right? The dating, wooing, the whole scene.

This is no ordinary love story. Read on, you'll understand what I mean.

I should start at the very beginning, I suppose.

I got most of the information from various members of the team, from snippets I'd heard. From CCTV footage, or from my lover. You also have to understand that the jobs we went on have been condensed. I would have to fill hundreds of pages otherwise. I have just concentrated on my lover and I.

So, here goes.

My name is Captain Jack Harkness. I am part of Torchwood 3, based in Cardiff. There is a Rift running through here in time and space. Our job is to maintain the balance between Earth and the outside worlds. In a nutshell, we keep aliens out! Keep Earth safe, from alien invasion. And we do a pretty damn good job, too, if I do say so myself.

We make sure nothing comes through from other universes. If they do, we're the mope-up crew. The fix-it guys. The people to go to. We're outside the Government. Beyond the police. Fighting for the future on behalf of the human race. The 21st Century is when it all changes and we've got to be ready.

This is my story of how I, an immortal, from another time and space, fell in love with a mortal.

We usually worked as a team, but I remember one evening, I was in a local park in Cardiff, trying to apprehend a Weevil. [they are aliens who live in the sewers, most cities have them] Anyway, I had everything under control.

_Yeah, right!_

The Weevil was on top of me, he bit my neck and then started pummelling my body good. Next thing I know, he's being clobbered from behind. There's this skinny, young guy hitting it with a tree branch. He got the Weevil off me, and onto him. I got the Weevil off him and managed to get it to the ground. I got out my Weevil spray, sprayed it in the eyes and put a bag over it's head. the Weevil was asleep. It was out for the count.

I stood up.

"Thanks," he said, leaning his hand against a tree, blood coming from a graze on his forehead.

"No. Thank _you_. And you are?"

"Jones. Ianto Jones."

"Nice to meet you, Jones. Ianto Jones. Cap'n Jack Harkness"

We shook hands.

_Wow, what a hand. Firm grip, too._

I digress.

"Luck escape." Ianto said.

"I had it under control."

"You think so? Looked pretty vicious." He took a few steps towards me.

I moved back.

"Your, mm a... you _were_ bleeding."

"I've had worse from shaving." I smiled.

"Looked like a Weevil to me."

I eyed him suspiciously.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

_He knew what a Weevil was._

"I'll take 'im from here." I said

I hauled the Weevil over my shoulder

"Thanks for the assistance."

"Any time. By the way" He called after me. "Love the coat."

Shaking my head, I took the Weevil back to the Hub and put him in a cell.

I actually live there, at the Hub. I have a bunker style bedroom there, under my office. It makes me feel right at home. No nightlife for me. Unless it's watching the numerous screens we have for tracking Rift activity. I spend most of my nights alone.

The Rift is situated over Cardiff. Aliens find their way through it to us.

Us being, Suzie, Owen, Toshiko and myself.

We do our best to send them back. Or confine them at Torchwood, in cells.

Next morning, I left through our cover office at Cardiff Bay, the Tourist Information Centre. Imagine my surprise at seeing Ianto Jones outside.

"Morning."

He held out a cup out to me.

"Coffee?"

Taking it, I took a sip. _Pure nectar_. Coffee how it _should_ taste

"Wow."

"I wanna work for you."

"Sorry, no vacancies."

"Look, let me tell you about myself."

"Ianto Jones born August 19th 1983. Able student, but not exceptional." I began to walk away. "One minor conviction for shop lifting in your teens. Number of temporary jobs. Mainly a drifter, until two years ago you joined the Torchwood Institute in London. Junior researcher, girlfriend Lisa Hallett."

"Deceased."

"Sorry."

I walk away.

He followed me. Walked in front of me, stopping me.

"Look, you checked me out."

"You knew what a Weevil was. Thought I was gonna have to come deal with you."

"But instead you could see I had the right qualifications for the job."

"There is no job. We're nothing to do with Torchwood London. I severed all links."

I moved off again He stopped me by putting a hand against my chest. I moved it off with my fingertips.

_That hand was so warm. _

_Get a grip, Harkness._

"Yet, when it burnt, two members of your team scavenged the ruins."

"Don't want the equipment getting into the wrong hands."

"And you're the right hands, are you? Trial period, three months"

"No!"

"Three weeks, three days. Let me prove myself to you. I'll work for nothing."

"No."

"I saw what they did at Canary Wharf!"

That hand on my chest again.

"What am I supposed to do with those memories?"

"You are _not_ my responsibility, and we're not hiring."

"Same time tomorrow, then?"

I started to walk away from Ianto Jones.

"There is no job for you here, and there never will be."

"I really like that coat." He called after me.

I raised an eyebrow. _He has taste_.

That night, I was out checking on something that had happened in the area. I can't remember exactly what it was. But I was alone. I was driving along, talking to the rest of the guys still in the Hub and there in the middle of the road in front of me was, yep, Ianto Jones.

It was raining, too, but there he was, in the road anyway. Fool.

_I'll give him this, he's persistent_.

Getting out of the SUV, I went to challenge him. He stood fast. _Arrogant son-of-a-bitch._

"Arh. Okay this has to stop!"

"No, listen to me…"

"I don't have time for this. Look, I don't care what your problem is, I want you out of the city by sunrise. There is no place for you here. Go back to London. Find yourself another life. Keep stalking me, I'll wipe your memory."

I put on my tough face.

"No, but the thing is, if…."

"Look, any conversation between us, no matter what the subject, is over. Finished. Done. Forever. I'm gettin' back behind the wheel of that car." I pointed to the SUV. "If you're still standing in the road, I'm gonna drive through you." I started to walk back towards the car.

"So you're not gonna help me catch this Pterodactyl, then?"

Now, he had my attention.

We drove to a warehouse. Once inside an outer room, I took my equipment out for capturing the bird. Not the right equipment, though, according to Ianto Jones, that is.

"Okay, _that_ is the only special equipment you've got?" Ianto pointed to the rather large syringe.

"Yeah, cos I keep Dinosaur nets in the back of the SUV."

Was I joking? Cause.

"Well, Torchwood London would have."

I gave him one of my best stares.

We went into the warehouse. The Pterodactyl was flying around inside.

_What a beauty_.

We went through a door leading from another room, to where it was. It flew straight towards us. Ianto pushed me back through the door.

"No." said Ianto.

We exited again, pretty sharpish. Avoiding being ripped to pieces. We stayed the other side of the door, our backs against it.

"How'd you find it?" I asked

"Rift activity locator."

"Torchwood London."

"See, quality kit." He beamed.

The bird was squawking and flying around.

"Arh, it's quite excitable."

"Must be your aftershave."

"Never wear any."

"You smell like that naturally?" Ianto looked surprised.

"51st century pheromones. You people have no idea. Ready for another go?"

"I'm game if you are."

"Three, two, one…."

We went back inside the warehouse. Trying not to scare the bird.

"Split up."

We went in opposite directions.

"Arh. We're not gonna harm you. You can't stay here." I said to the Pterodactyl. "Come back with me. I've got somewhere nice and big where you can fly around."

"Okay, so you let the Pterodactyl in, and not me."

"We need a guard dog." I told him.

"I could be that. Like a receptionist. Building maintenance. Food and drink. Dry cleaning, even. That coat of yours must take a battering. Like a butler. I could be a butler."

"We don't need a butler."

"Excuse me. Dried egg on your collar." He pointed out.

I shrugged him off.

"It was a busy week."

"What exactly is your plan?"

He grabbed me. I pulled away.

"I'm gonna be the decoy."

"And it will rip you to shreds."

"Dinosaurs?" I laughed. "Had 'em for breakfast. Had to. Only source of pre-cooked food protein after the asteroid crashed."

Ianto gave me a strange look.

"Long story." I changed the subject quickly, "Here you go." I offered him the syringe. "One injection to the central nervous cortex. I'll keep it occupied. Move."

"No."

"What?"

He handed back the syringe. "It knows me. I'll be a better decoy."

"It'll be too dangerous."

"No. I've got a secret weapon." He took something from his inside jacket pocket. "Chocolate. Preferably dark." Ianto moved off, whistling as he went. "Got your favourite. Yeah," he said. Still whistling. He threw the chocolate. "It's good for your ceratonin levels. If you've got ceratonin levels."

Just as I was gonna sneak up and plunge the syringe into big bird, she spied me. She walked towards me. I grabbed hold of her leg and we took off flying round the warehouse.

"Ianto!"

After a few seconds, I started to enjoy myself. I managed to inject her, then I let go.

Ianto caught me. Strong, safe arms. _Yes!_

As the drug took effect, the bird came down almost on top of us. Ianto moved us out of the way. He ended up on top of me. At first, we were laughing. Then, we stopped laughing, and just looked at each other. Maybe we felt something then. I know I did. I had this urge to kiss him.

"I should go," he said. He got up and started walking away.

"Hey, report for work first thing tomorrow."

I watched him walk away.

"Like the suit, by the way."

I watched until he was out of the warehouse. My heart was beating fast, and it wasn't from excursion.

I didn't notice that he had tears in his eyes. But not because he got the job. I'd find out the real reason later.

And that's how Ianto Jones became part of Torchwood, and my life. Ithought of our first encounter, every time I saw the Pterodactyl.

Myfanwye.

Bless.

_**I love this meeting of two hearts**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**In The Beginning…. Chapter 2**_

We had a new recruit about 2 months after Ianto joined us.

Gwen Cooper. A policewoman.

I noticed her when we - Me, Tosh, Owen and Suzie attended a suspicious death. Very inquisitive, our Gwen. She was very nosy that evening. Spied on us from a great height, so to speak. She saw us using the resurrection gauntlet - it brought dead people back to life for about 2 minutes so we could find out if they saw who killed them - it was very traumatic. I knew she'd find out all she could about Torchwood. And I'd let her. I had a plan.

I was right. She'd make a very good edition to Torchwood Cardiff.

I noticed her again at the hospital. Gwen was getting a head wound checked out. True to form, she followed me up to the top floor

That was where the Weevil I was perusing was waiting for her. I managed to get her to leave the building, while the rest of us took the Weevil prisoner and hurried him back to the Hub. But not before it killed a porter, in front of Gwen.

Again, Gwen followed us in her patrol car. We lost her, though, when we reached the Water Tower by the Millennium Centre. We went down into the Hub via the secret lift. That didn't deter her though.

About 3 or 4 hours after she first appeared outside the Hub, Gwen turned up at the Tourist Information Centre with pizzas. She'd trolled the local restaurants and came to where Torchwood ordered their pizzas from. [Owen's idea to use the actual name Torchwood for the orders. _Incredible_.]

Ianto greeted her and pushed the button that opened the secret door to the Hub.

"Go ahead, Miss. Don't keep him waiting." he encouraged.

I knew she'd want to join us. I introduced her to the rest of my crew.

I remember when I introduced her to Ianto, I said that he 'cleans up after us and gets us everywhere on time'. I also said that Ianto 'looked good in a suit'.

He replied, playfully.

"Careful, sir. That's harassment."

But he _did _look good in a suit, there was no denying it. And he was good at directions - direction us, that is. Did I mention his coffee was out of this world? I will, several times, I expect.

I took Gwen out for a drink and put a retcon tablet in her drink [it's a small white tablet that I created myself. Erases the last memories. Gwen wouldn't remember the last 24 hours] after I'd explained everything that Torchwood did and stood for. It would make her forget everything that had happened that day.

But Gwen was very resourceful.

She had left a few clues around. Like Torchwood written on a piece of paper by her laptop at home. Or, forgetting that she'd asked a colleague to look up Captain Jack Harkness.

"The only Captain Jack Harkness dies in 1941." Gwen was informed.

Her keen mind lead her back to the Water Tower, because she remember that she had seen the murder weapon from the murder that Torchwood had taken over earlier the evening before.

Suzie was waiting for her. Knew that Gwen would remembered and was going to kill her. I intervened, and Suzie shot me in the head. She didn't know I couldn't die - none of them did at that point - When I came back to life, she knew it was the end for her and she took her own life.

That's why Gwen is with us today. She had an inquisitive brain, like a dog with a bone. Never giving up. Never letting go. _Good for her_

I remember when we were all sat in the Boardroom, eating, I listening to them all talking about me, when they thought I was in the toilet.

They wanted to know from Gwen, if she'd found out anything about me. They told her they were counting on her to find out something. Owen told Gwen that they didn't know that much. Apart from me being an American and gay. Tosh didn't think I was gay. Ianto said he didn't care. _Good for him_.

I never let on that I heard them.

I remember once, we had to go to Splott. Ianto, daintily eating a cream doughnut, chirps up. '_I think estate agents pronounce it Splo_.' [loosing the T's and emphasising the O]

I can still see those lips daintily nibbling that doughnut. _Mmm_.

We deal with all sorts of aliens and their weaponry. Weaponry that we lock away. Bring out if and when it is needed, if it's needed. The Achieve is full of weapons and blueprints. Old and new.

We came across a device that showed the past and the future. It scared both Gwen, with a blast from the past, and then Owen.

Gwen traced down a little boy who she saw from the 1940's. He was alive and well, and still living in Wales.

Owen was almost obsessed at trying to find the man that had raped and murdered a seventeen year old girl called, Lizzie, more than fifty years ago. He went to the guy's house and let him know that he knew what he had done all those years ago.

The device had another part to it. Put both together , and it showed the future. That's what Gwen saw. The man who had the weapon in the first place was being killed, stabbed by her.

But I knew better than that. Gwen wouldn't kill anyone. It had to be wrong.

The guy ended up dead, but not by Gwen's hand, but by the guy who killed Lizzie, then he killed himself. No loss there then, the guy was a slime ball.

Ianto never came with us on assignments, not in the beginning. He was content to stay back at the Hub, feeding us information. Cleaning up after us. Keeping the Hub in tip top condition.

Later you'll find out why.

Plus, he made a wicked cup of coffee. _There I go again._

I threatened to shoot Ianto on one occasion, more than once, actually.

_Yep, I did_.

We had a power surge in the Hub. Found out Ianto had installed his Cyberwoman girlfriend in the basement. She had been there almost from the day he joined Torchwood.

_Yes, the deceased one, Lisa_.

He was hoping to cure her. Had got a Japanese Professor in to look at her. She killed him by trying to assimilate him, too.

_As if she could be cured!_

Once turned, you can never be cured. But he didn't know that. She tried to kill Gwen. Then she turned on Ianto, throwing him to the floor, like rubbish.

He was lying there, dead. I remember kissing him. To bring him back to life, not for pleasure - _hell, yes_. It was pleasant, for me anyway. I'm not sure if he knew he was dead, though. I certainly never told him.

I do remember him hitting me once we got out of the Hub and up top and saying something along the lines of,

'_You could have saved her! You're worse than anything locked up down there! One day I'll have the chance to save you and I'll watch you suffer and die!'_

Heat of the moment. Maybe. Did he mean it? Yes, I think he did.

We had to shoot Lisa. She had put her brain into a pizza delivery girl's body, and killed someone Ianto had brought into the Hub to cure her. I could see the hate in his eyes. But it had to be done.

I didn't fire him, though. I don't know why. Did I feel responsible for Lisa's death? No. Did I feel sorry for Ianto? Definitely. He was smitten with her.

I put Ianto on a month's suspension, and I never told UNIT.

He kept his head down after that. Did his job, 110%.

He was less hostile toward me as well. I guess he realised we were all looking out for him that day in the Hub. Protecting him from himself, as well as Lisa.

That was the reason why Ianto had tears in his eyes the day I hired him. He had managed to get into Torchwood so he could try and find a cure for Lisa. Love knows no boundaries.


	3. Chapter 3

_**In The Beginning….. Chapter 3 **_

Do you believe in fairies? I do, but they are not the kind who dance around, looking pretty. They are dangerous, cruel. Fairies are greatly misunderstood. They cause havoc. Even kill. They are not like the photograph taken all those years ago. They don't even look like that.

I remember about a month later, after the 'Lisa' incident, waking from a bad dream one night, and finding Ianto working in the Hub.

"You shouldn't be here," I said.

"Neither should you," he replied.

I followed him out into the Hub where he was looking at a computer screen.

"What you got?" I asked.

"Funny sort of weather patterns."

I put my hand on his shoulder. I think we both felt the electricity between us, but neither said anything.

For me, I think, it was too soon after Lisa for him. The memory of her was still too raw for Ianto. Besides, I wasn't his 'type'.

And me having been one of the people who shot her, didn't help.

An old friend, Estelle, invited me to a talk on fairies. The kind she saw. The good ones. Friendly, winged, sweet creatures. I only saw the bad ones. Ugly, winged, menacing.

After the talk, Gwen and I went back to Estelle's to look at more pictures of fairies. That's when Gwen saw picture of who Estelle thought was my father. It wasn't my father, it was me. We were really good friends, Estelle and I. I had once loved her dearly….still did, but in a different way.

When I got back to the Hub, we examined pictures in the Boardroom.

"I blame it on magic mushrooms," said Ianto, putting coffee cups down on the table..

"What you do in private, is none of our business." I told him.

The fairies lured Estelle outside, using her cat as bait. I'd warned her to stay inside. She died that night. Drowned by rainfall. Rainfall that only fell on her.

People I love always seem to die.

The fairies were here for a young girl. Jasmine, a 'chosen one'.

They killed her step-father.

I had to allow them to take her. The other members of Torchwood didn't understand how I felt, letting them take her. But it was the only thing I could do. They would have taken her eventually. She wanted to go with them.

When we got back to the Hub, Gwen looked at the pictures of the fairies again. There, at the bottom of the picture, smiling back, was Jasmine.

When we were out on the Brecon Beacons, looking for missing people, it proved my point.

We were talking about the last kiss we had, and who's ours was with. Then…..

"S'my turn, is it? It was Lisa," said Ianto.

"Ianto, I'm sorry," replied Gwen.

"Sorry she's dead, or sorry you mentioned it?"

"I just didn't think."

"You forgot."

The air was thick with regret.

I'm not quite sure if I wasn't just a little pissed at his comment. About the kiss, that is.

Well, Technically I suppose, _I_ kissed _him_.

Lisa had thrown him across the Hub. He was dead and I wanted to bring him back, trying not to alert her. I can do that. Bring people back with a kiss, don't ask me how. So, yeah, I kissed him. He didn't complain at the time. Lisa was too busy trying to hunt down Owen and Gwen. They'd hidden in one of the fridges. [it wasn't turned on] Tosh had managed to get the gate open that led through to the sliding door leading to the Information Centre.

It was an event best put behind us.

We eventually came across a body in the woods on the Brecon Beacons. It was left as a decoy, while someone stole the SUV. We, or should I say, Ianto tracked it. So we set off, following the tracker. We came across a farm house. Ianto and Tosh went off in search of the SUV, while Gwen, Owen and I checked out the buildings. Gwen was shot by a traumatised, kidnap victim with a shotgun. Owen managed to get all the shot pellets out.

Miles away, Tosh and Ianto were taken hostage by the village cannibals. [yes, you read that right] According to Tosh, between being scare to death and a knight in shinning armour, Ianto managed to distract their 'hosts' so she could escape. He was hit with a gun butt for his trouble. Owen managed to find Tosh, but they were captured again.

Gwen and I managed to get to them before Ianto was about to get his throat cut. I was the hero that day, shooting all the villagers, but only to wound. The police arrived and took them all, barr one, into custody. Gwen wanted to know, from him, why, once every ten years, the villagers killed and ate travellers.

The reply. "_Because I enjoy it_."

Toshiko was given an alien pendant which enabled her to hear other people's thoughts. _Scary or what? _

Mary, the alien, was killing people for over 150 years by plunging her hand into their chests and pulling out their hearts

Tosh told me that she'd read Ianto's thoughts.

He thought. _"Can't imagine a time when this isn't everything. Pain is so constant. Like my stomach's full of rats. Feels like this is all I am now. There isn't an inch of me that doesn't hurt."_

Then he said aloud. "I'm about to brew a pot of Jack's industrial strength coffee. Would you like some?"

"No, thank you. I'm fine, Ianto." Tosh replied.

She said she felt really bad for Ianto. Even bought him in a coffee from outside the next morning.

We all felt bad for him at some point after Lisa.

I often wondered if he was talking about Lisa, or me. Maybe I'll never know. I can't exactly ask him. Well, maybe one day I might.

I don't think Tosh really enjoyed the experience. In the end, I sent Mary into the centre of the sun with a transporter.

The pendant? Tosh crushed that under her boot. No one should be able to read another persons thoughts

They are private.


	4. Chapter 4

**In he Beginning….. Chapter 4**

Gwen, Owen and I arrived at a crime scene once, to find Torchwood written in the dead couples blood, on the wall over the bed.

It appeared that retcon - a drug devised by me - had been used. I asked Ianto how many victims of retcon, the amnesia pill, there had been.

"2008," he replied.

We had to do something. Owen suggested the resurrection gauntlet. We could bring back people from the dead and ask them questions.

Owen said that the gauntlet deserved a cool name.

"What about the 'risen mitten'." Suggested Ianto.

We just stared at him.

"I think it's catchy." said Ianto.

I tried using the glove, but it didn't work for me. Gwen tried. It worked for exactly 24 seconds. Ianto was timing with that stopwatch [read on].

"Give Ianto a stopwatch and he's happy." said Owen.

"It's the button on the top," replied Ianto, smiling.

The next person we resurrected lasted 1 minute 24 seconds.

It wasn't working for us, we had to get the person it worked for, Suzie Costello.

But she's dead, remember?

We had to get her out of the freezer.

Owen wired Suzie up and asked Ianto if he had his stopwatch ready.

"Always," came the reply.

Suzie couldn't be revived. Gwen suggested we also use the knife that Suzie used to kill people with. I got it out and Owen turned to Ianto.

"Ianto?"

"The 'life knife'."

Good one, Ianto.

I plunged the knife into her heart and she started to breath. She kept breathing.

She'd been dead for three months later. Now she was alive, of sorts.

Owen saw that Suzie was draining life from Gwen without her knowing. It seemed that whoever wore the glove and brought someone back, lost their life to that person - namely Suzie.

Suzie and Gwen left the Hub, sealing us in.

"I've got reception, sir." called Ianto.

"How do you do that? We're sealed off." I asked.

"Just used the Water Tower as a relay."

"Nice work Ianto. But who the hell do we phone?"

We called the police. They had a laugh at our expense. Being locked in our own base. They thought it was funny.

We needed a book of poetry to unlock the Hub.

The longer it took, the less time Gwen had. Suzie was getting stronger.

It turned out we just needed a number of the back of the book.

In the end, all Suzie wanted to do was kill her own father.

We had to get to Suzie and Gwen before Gwen died and Suzie took over. Gwen had minutes to live. I broke the speed limit big time trying to get to them.

I shot Suzie, breaking the connection, but nothing happened. I shot Suzie again and again.

"The glove! Tosh, destroy the glove." I yelled into my coms devise. "It's keeping them connected."

"Ianto! Code 5." said Tosh.

Ianto grabbed a gun and threw it to Tosh. She destroyed the glove. At that moment, Suzie died and Gwen was saved.

Ianto put Suzie back into the freezer.

"Thank you for doing this." I said to him

"Part of my job, sir."

"No. I should be doing it, but…. Phew. One day we're gonna run out of space." I looked around me.

"If your interested, I've still got that stopwatch."

"So?"

"Well, think about it. Lots of things you can do with a stopwatch."

"Oh, yeah." I smiled knowingly. "I can think of a few."

"There's quite a list."

"I'll send the others home early. See you in my office in ten."

"That's ten minutes and counting." Ianto started the watch.

I began to walk away.

"Oh, Jack? What do you want me to say on the death certificate?"

"Good question."

"She had quite a few deaths in the end."

"I don't know." I thought for a moment. "Death by Torchwood."

"I'll put a lock on the door just in case she goes walking again."

"Nah. No chance of that. The resurrection days are over, thank god."

"Oh, I wouldn't be too sure. That's the thing about gloves, sir. They come in pairs."

I turned and looked at Ianto. He continued to write out the death certificate. Unaware of my look, or the significant of his last remark.

The speed of light is 299,792,458 meters per second. Pain travels through the body at 350 feet per second. Even a sneeze can reach a 100 miles per hour. And as for life, that just whizzes by. This is according to Eugene Jones.

We found him dead at the side of the road. Apparently a victim of a road traffic accident. A hit-and-run.

He used to follow us around, well Gwen, really. Eugene had a kind of crush on her. He said he had something to show us. But we never really had the time, or the patients, it turned out.

We had to tell his mom that he had been killed. Owen and Ianto went up to Eugene's room to check it out. While searching it, Ianto found his 'stash' of alien type memorabilia.

Owen thought Eugene was a geek.

"Okay," began Ianto, hearing news coming through on is coms devise. "A red Vauxhall has been stopped outside Carmarthan. Very drunk guy. Has admits knocking a man over near Cardiff. Fits Eugene's description. The man says he thought he'd be okay, so he drove on."

Eugene believed in aliens. Believed he had quite a few authentic articles in his collection.

He had an alien eye - a Dogon sixth eye -that he was going to sell on eBay. It started at £2.50, then went up to £75. Then £200, £300. It just kept going up. £1000. Then it topped £15,000.

Eugene met up with the winner of the eye in a local café. Of course, the guy who bid, didn't really have £15,000. Was only willing to pay £34. Eugene thought he was going to sell it again on eBay, for a huge profit. He wasn't going to have that.

After a scuffle, Eugene swallowed the eye.

After talking to the guy who 'won' the eye, They found out that Eugene had swallows the eye. It wasn't picked up on the Autopsy when Gwen performed it back in the Hub. Gwen managed to get it back from the local morgue.

Eugene's father had walked out 14 years before, but he was at the funeral and came back to the house after.

Eugene was being kept earthbound because of the eye. He 'appeared' to everyone, just as a car was about to knock Gwen over. He saved her life.

We all saw him at that moment. Just before he turned into a pure white light, and ascended into heaven.

No one knew it, not even Eugene, but he was special.

We had a plane from 1953 come through the Rift once. Three people onboard. We took them back to the Hub and I explained to them that they could never go back. They were now stuck in our time.

I entrusted them to Ianto. Gave them each some money to go out and buy stuff with it. Ianto took them to the local Asda supermarket. They were first intrigued by the automatic door, then one of them spied the bananas. The door was forgotten.

"Of course, bananas are far more interesting." Ianto said, surprised.

They began shopping.

"How much food money have I got left?" Emma asked.

"£15.40."

She began filling her basket with sweet things.

"£12.10. You'll ruin your teeth."

"You sound like my mum."

The man, John picked up a girlie magazine.

"Good god!"

"Welcome to the wonderful world of scantily dressed TV celebrities," explained Ianto.

John looked around him. "But there are children around."

"She's a children's TV presenter."

Ianto played chauffeur, and was good at it, too.

The two girls seemed to be coping with the time change, but not the man. He was having problems coping. He asked to be dropped off at the Millennium Stadium.

I managed to track down John's son, Alan. He was in a home, suffering from Alzheimer's. Of course, Alan didn't recognise him. And it broke John's heart to see his son this way.

Owen fell for the pilot, Diane. Fell hard. Fell in love.

I went for a drink with John. He was good company.

He asked me, "Did you fall through time too?"

"Yeah, you could say that."

He was an okay guy who was lost in a time not his own. We chatted for a while longer, and then went back to the Hub.

John went into the Information Centre. He waited until Ianto had his back turned, picking up his car keys. Then he spoke with Ianto.

"I was looking for a bus timetable when I get out of the DIY store. See if there's any work going."

Ianto handed him one.

"Best of luck."

"Thank you."

Then John left.

Later that evening, Ianto phoned from the Information Centre.

"Hello." I said.

"My car keys are missin'. John was behind the counter earlier on, and I can't get hold of him."

Ianto came into the Hub and we checked the computer.

"He's gone home!" I said.

Ianto held out my coat to me as I rushed from the Hub.

John was in the car, trying to kill himself. I tried talking him out of it, but he said he would keep trying and finish the job with of without my help.

I sat in the car with him, while the exhaust fumes come in via the pipe. Held his hand while he died. While I died.

Emma went off to a job in London.

Diane took off in her plane, leaving Owen heartbroken.

But life had to go on.


	5. Chapter 5

**In he Beginning….. Chapter 5**

When Weevils were being taken off the street, we went out tracking them to see why. They were being taken to compete in fights with humans for pleasure. Other people looked on, enjoying the fights. Betting on the outcome.

We found a dead man in a warehouse, and later, a man was admitted to hospital with Weevil bite marks and scratches. I took Ianto along to the hospital to interview the man, who didn't want to admit he was in a fight. We played good cop bad cop. Ianto was great.

He eventually told us everything we wanted to know.

Owen went undercover. He posed as a businessman, eager to get into the fight. By the time we got there, Owen had actually gone in with the Weevil and was hurt quite bad. He told me he wanted to die. [because of loosing Diane] I believed him. He still hadn't gotten over his last love.

The organiser of the fight, on seeing what Owen had done, went in with the Weevil and was killed.

No loss there then.

Ianto was beginning to settling in well, and I began to give him extra duties.

He was a wiz around the Hub, too. Computers, filing, coffee making [you gotta love the way I just keep slipping this in] Keeping me on my toes, and hot under the collar, I might add.

_It's my story, so I can add what I want_

At times I thought that Owen was a little jealous of Ianto. Not sexually. He was definitely a woman's man. It was the wise cracks and quips about Ianto being my 'part time shag.' Of course, he wasn't. Not even close. I hadn't even asked him out. We hadn't been on a date. Certainly no sexual contact [only in my head] I'd kissed him a couple of times, that was all. No big deal. As far as Ianto was concerned, I was just being my usual self. Flirting, that was all.

Did I want more of a relationship? Damn right I did. But it had to be Ianto's decision, not mine. He'd never had a relationship with a man before, probably never even entered his mind. We'd play this on his terms, if we played at all. I respected him. If this relationship was ever going to get off the ground, I had to play the waiting game.

But I was good at that. Hadn't I been waiting for the Doctor to return for what seemed like a millennia? I was beginning to give up of seeing him this side of 2020, if then.

Toshiko and I went to the old Ritz Dance Hall. People had complained that there was 1940's music coming from the abandoned building.

Then we started seeing people, from the 1940's.

"They're not ghosts," I told Tosh. "It's just a temporal shift."

We were stuck there, in 1941. But I wasn't complaining. I loved it!

Ianto was stood in front of the screens. They were making a buzzing noise.

"What the hell is that?" Owen was awoken from a deep sleep.

"Tosh's Rift monitor program. She said it would alert me if there where any further movements. The Rift's been opening more and more recently."

Owen tested his breath "Phew! Yeah, well, I noticed that. Don't take a genius."

"Tosh reckons the equations are forming some sort of pattern. We should call her. She may have readings her end, and this is a bit over my head."

"Mmm. Why wasn't I told about this?" asked Owen, moving off the old couch, to stand behind Ianto.

"Well, you've been off, haven't you?" Ianto tried dialling Tosh's number. "Lines dead."

Gwen's phone began to ring.

"Gwen?" it was Ianto. "Can you get down to Stage Street?"

"Yeah. What's up?"

"We need to get hold of Tosh. The Rift monitor sounded off. She's with Jack but both the phones are dead, and we can't access her files."

"Right. I'll get down there now."

Tosh and I were standing in the middle of the dance floor. People were staring at us. I was loving it! Authentic music. Authentic uniforms.

Back at the Hub, Owen was trolling through Tosh's computer.

"Hey. I've got into Tosh's reports. See that? December 24th. That's when Diane flew through the Rift. I had to let her go."

"You were in love her, weren't you?" said Ianto.

"Tosh knows a way of opening the Rift, maybe we could get Diane back."

"Jack would never allow it. Opening the Rift would devastate the city." Ianto told Owen.

"Right. The Ritz Dance Hall. Opened in 1932 shut down in 1989, due to be demolished in," Owen looked at a piece of paper and then his watch. "One week. Now then, reported music is from the 1940's. Why is a ghost job taking them this long?"

Ianto brought up the Dance Hall on the screen.

"All those young soldiers." Ianto stared at the screen. "Owen, look. There." He pointed to a pictures of me.

Gwen arrived at the Hall.

"If they can hear me they've got to come back."

"Okay. So we use Tosh's information to open the Rift and bring them back."

"We can't. Half the equation's missing."

"Can't be. Must be somewhere else. Let me try."

He pushed Ianto aside.

"It's not there! It might be on her laptop," explained Ianto.

"What?"

"Which she never goes anywhere without."

Owen was frustrated. "Shit. Shit!"

1941 was when I meet Captain Jack Harkness. The real Jack Harkness. The one I'd taken my name from. I'd never dreamt I'd meet him in person. Yet, here he was, standing in front of me. My age. Handsome. Charming. _Pleeaase, get a grip!_

Ianto found the Dance Hall on the computer. Bought up a picture of Jack and Tosh with another handsome man.

Gwen managed to get into the Dance Hall. A Bilis Manger was the caretaker.

Ianto called Gwen.

"Anything more your end?" Gwen asked Ianto.

"There are no more photographs of Jack and Tosh after that night. That's encouraging." said Ianto.

"Yeah, unless the bombs got 'em." put in Owen.

"The manager, Bilis Manger kept them for posterity."

"Bilis Manger? That's the name of the caretaker."

"Can't be the same guy, can it?" asked Ianto

"Not old enough, although he does look a bit out of his time. He wears a cravat."

"Gwen, he's in the photo with Jack and Tosh."

"He's the answer." exclaimed Owen. "He's come through the Rift, find out what he's doing?"

"No, get out Gwen. Wait for backup."

"We can't loose him."

"We can't loose Gwen. Maybe this is a trap. He could be sucking us back in time one by one. Get out of there, Gwen, that's an order!" Instructed Ianto.

"I'm sorry, but who exactly put you in charge?" Owen shouted at Ianto.

It was definitely a wild night all round. I got slugged by a guy trying to pick up Tosh. The other Harkness intervened and made apologise. Then we made our introductions.

"Captain Jack Harkness."

My jaw dropped, so did Tosh's.

"Captain James Harper." I replied. Back at the Hub.

Owen was messing around with wires. Ianto was asking Owen what he was up to.

"What are you doing?" a heartbeat. "Owen?"

"We haven't got the missing numbers. We'll have to improvise with the Rift manipulator."

"We can't. It's risky enough with the equation. If we don't do this properly, anything can happen."

"Bombs are falling. They're stuck in the Cardiff blitz. It's our duty to get them out."

"Open the Rift now and the whole world could suffer. We could all get sucked in. Who knows what will come out. This is about Diane, isn't it? When will you accept that she chose to leave you."

"Phew, where as your Cyber girlfriend, stuck around the course. Not that she had much choice, wired up in the cellar."

"That was different."

"Yeah, it was. Mainly because Diane didn't try and kill us all. And, oh yeah, she also happen to be a human being."

"Stop it!"

"Not some screwed up metal monster."

"I thought she was still Lisa. I loved her. You only knew Diane for a week."

"And it wasn't enough. Maybe the manipulator can calculate the missing figures."

Owen attached all the wires to the Water Tower. No effect. "Isn't working."

"Good. Jack would never have wanted us to use it this way."

"There's a..a piece missing. We've gotta find it."

"Maybe you should go home."

"You don't have any power over me." Owen looked down his nose at Ianto. "Okay, Ianto, we'll play it your way. Safe and boring."

We were having a better time in 1941. There was a physical attraction between myself and the other Jack Harkness. [sorry Ianto] I was there with Jack Harkness, having a drink. I had goose bumps.

Back at the Hub.

"Er, where are you off to?" Ianto asked Owen as he went to leave the Hub.

"The Dance Hall. Bilis' office. He must know how the Rift works. Maybe we'll find a clue there."

Then Owen left.

When he reached the Dance Hall, he went straight to Bilis' office. He began tearing it apart, looking for clues. Until he finally found what he was looking for.

"Yes!"

Then he went back to the Hub. But he told Gwen that he hadn't found anything.

Gwen called Ianto. The numbers were written in blood.

"Gwen found the rest of Tosh's readings." Ianto said to Owen.

"What's she got for us?"

Gwen read out the numbers.

"No, need at least three more numbers, Gwen. They must be somewhere else."

"No, they're not." Gwen replied.

"Well, how do you know?"

"Somebody scrapped out the final numbers."

Owen and Ianto exchanged defeated looks.

At the Dance Hall.

I remember telling the other Jack that I had no one special in my life. [sorry again, Ianto] Then he took my hand in his.

In the Hub.

"It still won't work, there's a piece missing."

"Bilis had it all along."

"We still don't have all the equation."

"Maybe the machine can work it out."

The machine almost short circuited.

"Owen!"

Owen was running around, searching everywhere.

"There must be something in the safe. The key fits, we just need better instructions."

"You can't open the safe. You've got no right."

"I am second in command. I have got every fuckin' right!"

"There's stuff in there we don't know about. That's the way Jack likes it."

"I'm not gonna play with his toys, Ianto."

Owen searched through a book.

"Reasilver the god of war's missus, and a nine digit number. What a clever Jack." Owen pushed past Ianto. "Move!"

He went to the safe, searching through the various boxes within. Then he found what he was looking for.

"Blue prints for the Rift machine."

Back in 1941, Jack came back to me. We clasped hands.

Owen and Ianto were still at it.

"There's instructions in here," said Owen. "It isn't some random act of madness."

"It's a trap! Bilis wanted you to find it!"

"Why?"

"To provoke the Rift! To incite total chaos and destruction! All the reports on the haunted Dance Hall were anonymous! What if it was him? Please, listen to me!"

"I'm tired of being in ore of the Rift. I'm tired of living with Jack's secrets. We don't even know who he is."

"He's our leader."

"Not any more. Get outta my way."

Ianto tried to stop Owen. Owen knocks Ianto to the ground and kicked him twice.

I explained to Tosh how Jack Harkness dies tomorrow in 1941. His plane went down, but all his crew members survived. He didn't.

Back at Torchwood headquarters.

Ianto stood in front of Owen, holding a gun.

"Put the key down, or I'll shoot. You have to let Diane go, like I did with Lisa."

"Don't compare yourself to me. You're just a tea boy."

"I'm much more than that. Jack needs me."

"In your dreams, Ianto. Your sad wet dreams when you're his part time shag, maybe. That Rift, took my lover, and my Captain. So if I die, trying to beat it, then it will all be in the line of duty".

Owen continued to fit the key. Ianto pulled the trigger.

Owen pushed the key home, opening the Rift.

"You don't know what you've done!" Exclaimed Ianto.

Owen collapsed, holding his shoulder.

In 1941.

Jack walked over to me, took me by the hand and took me onto the dance floor. It was magical. We held each other close. It wasn't as if I was cheating on Ianto. This Jack would die tomorrow. It was the least I could do. As we were dancing, a portal opened.

"I have to go, it's my duty." I told Jack.

I walked toward the portal, then turned back, took Jack into my arms and kissed him.

I was back at the Hub, as Owen was taking the bullet out of his shoulder.

"I knew we did the right thing. Opening the Rift."

"Still no sign of Bilis."

"World didn't end after all, did it? Good job you're a crap shot."

"I was aiming for your shoulder."

Later, Tosh said to me.. "He would have been so proud you took his name, cos here you are, saving the world. To Captain Jack."

We clinked glasses.

"To Captain Jack."


	6. Chapter 6

**In The Beginning Chapter 6**

The first time I kissed Ianto, when he actually kissed _me_ back, was when Owen opened the Rift and we thought is was the end of the world. All hell broke loose that day.

Rhys was stabbed to death by Bilis Manger.

Plague, disease and anarchy were unleashed on Cardiff.

I stopped a demon who's shadow was killing people.

I died doing this. It killed me over and over again. It was the only way I could destroy it.

I was dead, in fact, for over 3 days. Then, Gwen kissed me, and I came back to life.

My Princess.

Where was my Prince?

On going back up into the Hub, Tosh rushed over to hug me. Ianto came over and was going to shake my hand.

_No way! __Like I was going to settle for a handshake after being dead for 3 days. I don__'t think so. _

I pulled him into a hug and then kissed him briefly. He returned my kiss. Warm and sweet. Shy, almost.

We never spoke of that kiss. I didn't want to embarrass Ianto. But I never forgot it.

Owen couldn't believe his eyes. He started to weep.

"I'm so sorry, Jack."

"I forgive you," I told him, taking him into my arms, kissing the top of this head.

And I did.

It was a bad day when Captain John Hart decided to come back into my life. My emotions went through the roof. First I kissed him, them we had a knock down fight, and ended up drinking together. He'd been my lover for 2 weeks. Well, we were stuck in a time loop and it lasted nearly five years. I loved the guy once, but I didn't like him that much.

I remember, when were we helping John, Ianto and I were searching this office block.

This is how it went down:-

We entered the office together, Ianto and I.

"Oh, yeah." I giggled. "Loving that officie feel. I always get excited in these places. To me their exotic. Office romances. Photocopying your butt. Well, maybe not your butt. Although, as we're here why don't we phot…..

Ianto stopped me. "The rift was active at these coordinates approximately 200 feet above ground. That means this floor, or the roof." Said Ianto.

"How are you Ianto?" I asked.

"All the better for having you back, sir."

"Can we maybe drop the sir now? I mean, while I was away, I.. I was thinking. Maybe we could, you know, when this was all done. Dinner. Movie."

"Are you asking me out on a date?"

"Interested?"

"Phew. Well. As long as it's not in an office. Some fetishes should be kept to yourself."

Ianto was rather please when John Hart finally left. I, on the other hand, wasn't. Not when he dropped the bomb about having found Grey. My long lost brother.

I remember Ianto and his stop watch. I love that watch. Mmm. He used to say there are quite a few things you can do with a stop watch. He was right.

I always loved looking at Ianto, especially when he didn't know I was watching him. There seemed to be something innocent and naive about him. Maybe that's why I loved him. Seeing something in Ianto that I hadn't seen in someone for such a long time. It made me see things through fresh eyes. His eyes. Made me feel real love again. Be happy. Happy with myself.

_Oh, what strange pleasures real love brings._

_What am I now, a poet?_

_Hardly._

_Just in love_.

I've had quite a few lovers in my lifetime. Some lasted days. One - with John, 5 years - but I'd never felt about them the way I did Ianto Jones. He was like a breath of fresh air to me.

Maybe because he was 'off limits'. A challenge. He was heterosexual.

I described myself [and a few others did, too] as omnisexual. I'd had made love to both sexes. But never a 'straight' male. They had always been gay.

Gay. I hate that word. Once upon a time it meant happy, carefree. I was certainly happy. Macho gay, maybe.

Look it up in the dictionary.

Meaning 1. Homosexual

Meaning 2. Carefree and merry with gay abandon

Meaning 3. Bright and cheerful, smartly dressed in gay colours

Meaning 4. A homosexual especially a homosexual man, solidarity amongst

lesbians and gays

Makes us sound like a separate race. Suppose we are in a way. We have our own Clubs and Bars. We hold our own Rallies. Not that I join in any of them. I'd like to someday take Ianto dancing, though.

He was a born comedian, Ianto Jones. He might not look like it, but he came up with the best lines. For example. We had this woman called Beth. She was a sleeper. An alien asleep inside a human shell. Just waiting to emerge. Waiting for the trigger to make the alien come out and get rid of the human.

Here are some of the lines from Ianto that made the case that little bit easier.

I was interrogating Beth, I was really trying to scare her.

"It'll be just us in this room for as long as it takes." I warned Beth.

Ianto was looking in from above. I went out after talking to Beth. Let her think about it for a while.

"_Just us in this room for as long as it takes_." Ianto quoted me. "Terrifying."

"Really?"

"Absolutely. Shivers down my spine."

"You don't look scared."

"It.. passed."

I grunted in mock frustration. "Arrhh."

Beth had a walk around the Hub with Gwen and was looking and sniffing things. Ianto chirps up with:-

"We don't sniff the sub-etheric resonator."

She actually apologised.

And when we used the mind probe, with Beth strapped to a chair.

"Remember what happened last time we used it?" Ianto said.

"That was different. That species had extremely high blood pressure." I told him.

"Oh, right. Their head's must explode all the time," he answered back.

Ianto got into the chair.

"Take it easy Jack. Stop at the first signs of trouble." said Tosh.

"Or the first sign of exploding." Ianto added.

Ianto pretended that volts of electricity were going through him.

"Hey!" I said, signalling for him to move.

Beth was strapped into the chair and the mind probe put on her head.

"Will this hurt?" she asked.

"Yeah." I replied.

"Your bedside manner's rubbish." Beth said to me.

"You should see his manners in bed. They're atrocious. Apparently. So I've heard." Gwen said.

"Oh, they are. I remember this one ….." began Ianto.

"Ur hum." I cut him off.

He seemed comfortable now, with others knowing about our relationship. It had never bothered me. _I am what I am. No excuses. No apologies. The world has gays… get over it. _[Oh, did I say gay, I have that word!]

Beth was a sleeper. Non human with an alien inside. It spoke to us. Threatened us

She managed to escape from Torchwood. More aliens like her, took out the telephone services.

Owen wanted Tosh to hitch something up to the mobile phone lines. She tried to explain to him about the phones, that they were all down. He wasn't listening, so Ianto says…

"Mobiles. Landlines. Tin cans with bits of string. Everything. Absolutely everything. No phones. Phones all broken. Hello, anyone there? No. Cos the phones aren't working!"

The aliens were blowing up buildings and people were dying. They had to be stopped.

My line was..

"Come on. Have a little faith. With a dashing hero like me on the case, how can we fail?"

"He is dashing. You have to give him that." said Ianto.

Bless him.

"And what if they can't stop it?" asked Owen.

"They'll stop it." replied Tosh

"Yeah, but what if they can't?" "Then, it's all over." Ianto said

"Let's all have sex." Owen suggested.

Ianto winced. "And I thought the end of the world couldn't get any worse."

_That's my boy_.

We had to shoot Beth in the end. We had no choice.

It was what she wanted.

Tommy Brockliss had been taken by Torchwood in 1918. We had him in our cryogenic freezer. Had to check him out every twelve months. Someday he would be needed, we were told. That time was now.

Owen defrosted Tommy for the tests.

Gwen said. "Why?"

"To check he still works?" put in Ianto

Always the joker

Owen had to shock him back to life this time. He hit out, catching Owen in the face. Tosh calmed Tommy down.

"This happens every year," said Owen, rubbing his face.

"Good left hook though." put in Ianto.

"How are you feeling?" Tosh asked Tommy.

"Alright. I could murder a cup of tea, though."

Tosh gave Ianto that, _'Well, go and make the tea, then.' _look.

We were all gathered round the Boardroom table, eating breakfast. Ianto was waiting on us, as usual. He never got to sit down with us much. I had to change that. He had to eat, too. Why should he do it alone, after us?

"Don't expect the good china. For visitors only." Ianto said to Tommy.

I remember _that_ kiss from Ianto, after Tommy had gone back, as if it were yesterday.

We were going to have to send Tommy back to his own time. I was sitting in my office when Ianto came up the stairs. I'd know his footsteps anywhere.

"This time tomorrow, he'll be back in 1918." I said.

"In his own time."

A slight pause.

"Would you go back to yours, if you could?"

"Why? Would you miss me?" I cocked my head to one side, waiting on his answer.

"Yep."

I smiled, I wasn't disappointed.

"I left home a long time ago. Don't really know where I really belong. Maybe that doesn't matter anymore."

"I er, know you get lonely." Ianto perched on the edge of my desk.

"Going home wouldn't fix that. Being here, I've seen things I never dreamt I'd see. Loved people I'd never would have known if I just stayed where I was. And I wouldn't change that for the world."

We looked at each other and held that gaze for what seemed like an age. Then Ianto put his hands either side of my head, and pulled me into a passionate kiss. I felt it all the way down in my boots. He certainly knew how to kiss. _Wow_

Tommy eventually went back to 1918, and the fracture in the earth closed. It couldn't drag the future back into the past. He was a hero


	7. Chapter 7

**In The Beginning Chapter 7**

A road traffic accident revealed more that day than just a death. The 'meat' inside the lorry was not beef, pork, lamb or chicken. It wasn't of this world.

To make things worse, it was one of Rhys' haulage lorries. His friend had been driving, and was killed.

As Rhys approached the lorry, he saw Gwen. He tried to follow the SUV she was riding in, but the road was closed.

Back at the Hub, Owen was analysing the 'meat' sample taken from the lorry.

"The 'fit for human consumption' stamp is fake." he told me.

While we were testing the 'meat', Rhys text Gwen.

" I have to slip home first, check on Rhys."

"Good idea," I said "Find out how much he knows."

"That's not what I meant."

Owen, Gwen, Ianto and I went to the warehouse where the meat was supposedly coming from.

Ianto asked Owen if he had the alarm deactivator. Owen shot the alarm instead.

"Well, that's one way of doing it," said Ianto.

Rhys was seen at the warehouse so I had to tell Owen and Ianto to stand down. Gwen wanted to get Rhys out of there, but I couldn't let her.

Rhys got into the warehouse. Saw the beast that the meat was coming from. It was an enormous alien creature. They were cutting chunks of meat out of it's side.

Gwen and Rhys had a slanging match and she finally told him what she did. In fact, she was bringing him to the Hub.

I was watching Ianto and he was having a conversation with Tosh and Owen. They were drinking beer.

Rhys told us about the creature. That they were harvesting the meat from it while it was still alive.

"If we understood how it worked, we could feed the world." said Tosh.

"We could release a single." said Ianto.

_Love his wit_

Rhys and I started arguing. He told me I was a show off.

I asked Ianto. "Do I show off?"

"Just a little."

We still kept arguing.

"If you can't handle it, big boy, then you can stuff it!" said Rhys.

"This is homoerotic." I said

Rhys managed to get us all into the warehouse, but they found Ianto, who stun gunned one of them.

"They've got Rhys and Ianto," Owen told me.

They tied them both up.

They threatened to shoot Rhys and Gwen gave herself up.

When they threatened to shoot Ianto, I gave up, too. But Ianto was smart. He managed to undo the ropes on his hands. But not before Rhys was shot.

Owen was busy making a sedative for the creature.

Ianto went after the man who shot Rhys.

Owen managed to get the sedative into the creature, enough to kill it.

"Mercy killing," Owen said to us.

I felt for the creature. It wasn't it's fault. We stayed with it until it died.

Once we got back to the Hub, Owen took the bullet out of Rhys' shoulder.

"Next time," said Ianto, "let her take the bullet."

"Never." said Rhys.

I gave Gwen an amnesia pill for Rhys to take.

"At least let me give it to him at home."

A few weeks after this event, I started to 'pursue' Ianto by first openly flirting with him. I don't think he was completely comfortable with it, or truly understood if I was just fooling around or not. But, he put up with it.

_Good for him._

One way or another, I was going to try and make a relationship with Ianto work. I knew deep down inside that I loved him… had done for quite sometime. I just didn't want to admit it to myself. Afraid of rejection? _You betcha_. Just because he said he'd go on a date with me, or kissed me in the heat of the moment, it didn't mean he was ready for a full blown homosexual relationship.

I know what you're thinking. A while back, Ianto mentioned something about bed. Sure, we've shared a bed, my bed at the Hub, a few times. We kissed, cuddled. Doesn't mean we had sex. We didn't. I was content to just hold him close. The time would come, I knew, when we'd consummate our love.

Yep, I knew he loved me. The way he looked at me. I could feel it in his touch. _Did he know how much I loved him? _No, I don't think so. Had I told him? What do you think? I'm Captain Jack Harkness, I should be so bold.

A time was, I'd probably have tried to push my luck and either talk my way into his pants, or just plain dive in there, so to speak. But not with Ianto. He was different… I was different. _Did I say that?_

Living a thousand lifetimes hadn't made me any smarter when it came to relationships. Watching people you love die, is no picnic, I can tell you. It hurts. You can't do anything for them, but be there. I'd lost quite a few lovers, either to war, disease and one to old age. It didn't hurt any less, knowing that one day I would outlive the one I was with. I'd give up immortality, just to spend a lifetime with Ianto Jones, though. _Yep, I loved him that much._

Adam was a stranger, yet we didn't know that at the time.

An alien. One touch from him and we believed what he wanted us to believe.

Gwen couldn't remember Rhys.

Tosh no longer fancied Owen.

Owen was introvert and shy.

He made me remember my brother, Gray.

Tosh, Owen and Ianto were talking about an object that was found.

"I think Jack brought it in," remarked Ianto.

"No, I'm sure Adam found it on an excavation a few months back." said Tosh.

"I'll have a look in the diary. I like to log the interesting stuff." said Ianto.

"You write about artefacts in your diary?" asked Tosh, astonished.

"Among other things," Ianto replied. "Yeah." he smiled, proudly.

Ianto sat on the old couch, looking through his diary.

"What's wrong?" asked Adam, holding up Ianto's diary.

"My diary. You're not in it. Everyone else is." He backed away from Adam. "Why would I leave you out when you've been here so long? Like I'm remembering a man who doesn't exist."

Adam dropped the diary to the floor.

"What are you?" Ianto asked.

Adam grabbed Ianto. "Cross me and I will fill you full of fake memories, until your head is on fire. Because that's how I exist."

"Gwen, what dya do to 'er?"

"Memory is a very delicate thing. Feeding myself has wiped other memories out. It's a side effect of what I have to do to survive."

"Jack has to know."

Adam grabbed Ianto, pushing him to his knees.

"Remember this," Adam put fake memories of Ianto killing a young woman into his head. "Remember it, remember it," Adam said over and over again.

When I went into the Hub, it was dark and silent.

"Jack." someone whispered behind me.

Ianto was sitting on a chair in the corner.

"Ianto." I moved towards him. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"You have to put me in the vault. Lock me up. I killed three girls. Strangled them."

"Stop kiddin' around."

"I'm serious. I murdered them in cold blood. I took their bodies and …" Ianto started looking around nervously, moving towards me. "You have to lock me away, before I turn on you. None of you are safe."

"Hey, hey. Come here, come here. What's happened to you?" I took him into my arms. I made soothing sounds, gently touching his hair

"I'm a monster." he wept.

I didn't believe that for one second. I took him into my office and hooked him up to a lie detector.

"Best lie detector on the planet. If something's untrue the light turns red." I watched him as the tears slid down his face. "Go."

"My hands on her throat… and it felt _so_ good. Squeezing the life out of her.

It reads as truth." More tears rolled down his face.

I shook my head. "I don't believe it. Okay, tell me about the second girl."

"She tried to get away…but I was too quick. Pleading, and I..I didn't care. Something in me wants to kill."

"No, this is _not_ you. Something's changed you. You're not a murdered. I'm certain of it."

I went to the monitor and trolled back through the tapes for the day. There was Adam putting those foul memories into Ianto's mind.

"Come here," I said to Ianto. "Come here." I grabbed his arm, forcing him to look at the screen. "Just look. Look!"

Ianto could now see for himself that he wasn't a monster.

"Where's Adam's blood sample?"

Ianto was finally himself again. He moved over to the monitor, checking it. "Everything is in order here."

"When was it last updated?"

"24 hours ago."

Finally, Adam came into the Hub. I confronted him. I managed to put him into a cell. To get rid of him from our memories, I had to give them all, including myself, a 48 hour memory loss pill.

I took them all to the Boardroom and made them remember memories from a while ago. Before me. Before Torchwood.

"Let me take you back to before we all met. The hidden, the forgotten. Tell them to me." I told them.

Ianto thought… '_Meeting Lisa_.' then said aloud. "Falling in love." then he thought '_Never felt so alive_.' and aloud. "Losing Lisa, like the world had ended."

I put a pill in front of Ianto.'

'_Coming here, gave me meaning again_.' he thought He looked into my eyes. "You… " he said aloud.

I kissed his forehead and he closed his eyes. Even now, he was thinking of me. [bless you, Ianto Jones]

I went down to the cell to confront Adam, and to take my pill. If I was right, when we all woke up, Adam would be gone.

When I went up into the Hub the team were there. No one could remember the last 48 hours.

I was in my office looking at a box. Ianto came in.

"Did you er, called me?"

"Found your diary."

"Yep, been lookin' for that." Ianto grabbed it from me.

"And for the record, measuring tapes _never_ lie."

Ianto had his back to me and mouthed 'fuck'.

He left the office, I called after him. "Hey!"

"Yep?"

"Who's Adam?"

"Don't know." then he was gone again.

So, the pills did work.


	8. Chapter 8

**In The Beginning Chapter 8**

Ianto was skimming through a magazine when Martha Jones appeared in the Information Centre. There were unexpected deaths happening all over Cardiff.

"We're closed," Ianto told her.

She showed him her ID card.

"Sorry, ma'am, this way." He showed Martha into the Hub.

After her welcome from me, I introduced her to my team.

I asked Martha later, if she could get me a red UNIT cap. I was thinking Ianto would look really great in it.

Owen was showing Martha one of our alien artefacts. He pointed it at some paper inside a cup…. It just missed vaporising Ianto.

The people were dying with parasites inside them. They had supposedly been cured of their deceases - diabetes, cancer.

Martha was going undercover in the clinic as a Clinical Trials subject. Ianto

briefed her.

"So, Jack, asked me if I could get you a UNIT cap to wear."

"Did 'e? Well, red is my colour."

"So, am I right, thinking that you and he?"

"We… dabble."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." he smiled, knowingly.

"So, what's his dabbling like?"

"Innovative."

"Really?"

"Bordering on the avant-garde."

"Wow!"

"Oh, yeah".

I never did get that cap for Ianto.

Martha got into the clinic and their records. The alien was called The Mayfly.

Ianto got to use the stun gun again.

Martha had been found out. We had to get into the Farm. Tosh thought of a

way, and conveyed her thoughts to Ianto.

He looked at the computer screen. "Oh, you are warped on the inside. How

do you think of these things?"

"I'll take that as a compliment." Martha smiled at Ianto.

Owen and I managed to get into the Farm, but Martha had already been

infected with The Mayfly. Owen managed to get it out of her with the alien

vaporiser.

That was when Owen was shot…..

He died. He was only 27.

Martha Jones was about to perform an Autopsy on Owen when I stopped

her.

"Stop! No one touches him until I get back," I told her.

I had to go to a abandoned church, full of sleeping Weevils. I needed the

resurrection glove. Ianto was right, they do come in pairs. The Weevils had the other one, I'd known it all along, I think.

I wanted to bring Owen back. I wasn't ready to let him go.

The glove worked for me. Owen came back…. Continued to live after the 2 minutes.

Ianto had his trusty stopwatch out, timing Owen.

"This glove is different from the other one. Maybe, different gloves do different things." Ianto informed us.

"How many are there?" asked Martha.

"Two. Well, they tend to come in pairs." Ianto added.

We discussed Owen's condition. He was changing, internally, into

something else.

He wasn't in the Hub. I had to find him.

He was in a bar. Angry, at me, for bringing him back. We fought. We got

locked up in cells. Owen had to stand on his head, to expel the alcohol he'd

drunk. I was disgusting. He vomited and farted, and farted and…..

I always felt guilty, sending any members of my team into danger. Knowing

that they might not return alive, while I walked away unscathed.

A cloud of black eventually escaped from Owen's mouth… death, we think.

The glove came alive, fixed itself on Martha, aging her 70 years. She had to

be taken to hospital, it might have been her only chance of survival.

Death followed us to the hospital. Claiming souls… taking lives.

Death needed 13 lives to walk the Earth. It had stopped at 12... Why?

Owen had to face Death. Had to beat it… alone.

He locked himself in with Death… awaiting his fate.

We could only look on, and hope he got through it.

He did.

"Jack? Gwen? Anyone?" asked Ianto from the hospital.

Martha grabbed his shoulder from behind. "Arrhhhh!" he jumped out of his

skin.

Martha was herself again.

Owen was back, Death had left him and been defeated by him. He 'lived' to

fight another day.

Owen was relieved of duty, handing over his gun and ID to Ianto. He wanted

to know what he was going to do while Martha Jones did her tests.

"We always need someone to make coffee," I suggested.

"Oh, no."

Ianto was showing Owen how to work the coffee machine.

"Walla! Fresh and strong. Mmmhmm." Ianto closed his eyes.

"And, er, you couldn't just have a jar of instant, no?"

"I thought you liked your coffee," said Ianto.

"You seen what happens when I drink these days?"

"Yeah. Thank you, Owen. D'ya wanna go?"

"Oh, please." Owen tried to get the coffee machine to work, shaking it into

action. "What's wrong with this?"

"You, er…. You okay?"

"What d'you think? I bet you're loving this, aren't ya. It's like you finally won."

"I didn't realise we were in competition."

"Oh, come on. Even Tosh had more of a life than you used to, and now

you're always out on missions. You're shaggin' Jack, and I'm stuck here

making the coffee."

"It's not like that. Me and Jack."

"Yeah, yeah. You and Jack. Gwen's getting married. Martha's got her bloke.

God, even Tosh had Tommy. This is really shit!"

"We've all gone through shit! I've seen you dissect alien corpses. Seen you

save so many lives. Are you really going to let this beat you?"

Ianto was right, thought Owen.

We needed to get into a house owned by Mr Farringdon, that was

surrounded by heat censers.

We couldn't figure out how to get in there.

"So you need someone who's dead. Like me," said Owen.

"Be careful, Owen," said Martha. "You bruise, it won't heal."

"I'm fragile… like glass." Owen half smiled.

Ianto called the house, Gwen spoke to someone inside.

Owen pulled the wires out of the electrical box with his bare hands. "I'm

already dead," he told the security guard. "I'm Doctor Owen Harper, and I'm

having on hellova day!"

Henry Parker was being kept alive by machines, and an alien artefact which

Parker called The Pulse.

Owen sat talking to Parker, as the man's life slowly ebbed away.

He finally gave the Pulse to Owen, realising that death would

be better than what he had.

Henry Parker died.

Owen couldn't save him.

He couldn't perform CPR.

He had no breath to save him.

The alien object was put in a safe place where it couldn't hurt humans. Our archives. Under lock and key. Safe, forever.

Martha Jones' job was done.

"I'm sorry, Dr Jones," said Owen, "but there are no vacancies in Cardiff."


	9. Chapter 9

**In The Beginning Chapter 9**

Before Gwen's wedding, she was bitten by an alien who transferred it's egg

into her, making her look 8 months pregnant. I had to send Ianto out to buy

her a new wedding dress.

"Ianto?"

"Jack?"

"Gwen's going to need a new wedding dress. Bigger!"

Ianto went to the bridal shop [brave fellow he was] He held up a dress against himself to see what it looked like. The male shop assistant approached him.

"Can I help you?"

"Yeah, I'm looking for a wedding dress, for a friend."

"Of course you are, sir. We're quite used to men buying for their friends."

Ianto gave him a strange look.

When Ianto got back to the Hub, he showed me a picture of the dress he

bought for Gwen.

"No, I like that one. Good choice."

"I estimated Gwen's size from the Hub security laser scans. As you know,

my dad was a master tailor. He could size a man's inside leg measurement

by his stride across the threshold."

"Arh, the family eye. Remind me to test it sometime."

"Well, if eh, later on your…"

Owen interrupted us. "Jack?"

"… yeah brilliant, I like that one." said Ianto, pointing to the dress.

"We've got a problem."

We followed Owen to the Autopsy room. He held up this crude object that

had come from inside the alien that bit Gwen.

"Look what our friend was hiding."

"And what is that exactly?" asked Ianto.

"Trouble. Big trouble." I answered.

"A Nostrovite is a shape shifting carnivore with a taste for human flesh. It's

intelligent and sneaky and… damn it, I should have seen this before."

"That's the problem with shape shifters ain't it. You don't know what you're

lookin' at." said Owen

"What's the big deal? It's dead."

"Yeah. This one is."

"Does there have to be more?" asked Ianto, nervously.

"Nostrovite mates for life. You know, like swans and penguins."

"Yeah, except you don't find Nostrovite's on greeting cards," chirped up Ianto

"Right. And then the male Nostrovite carries the fertilised eggs in a sack in

it's mouth and passes it on to a host with a bite."

"Gwen."

"And where does the mother come in?" asked Ianto.

"Well, she tracks down the host and rips it open."

"That's Nostrovite childbirth. And momma's out there right now, looking for

Gwen."

Ianto pulled the SUV up to the Water Tower.

"Tosh isn't responding."

"Then let's get goin'."

"Sure you're ready for this, Owen? You know what a Nostrovite can do.

You think you've got it covered a hundred feet away and it's already chewin'

on your liver."

"I don't need my liver. If you need me Jack…"

"Wow, wow wow wow. The singularity scalpel. Where you goin' with

that?"

"Okay. We need to get to Gwen before the Nostrovite does. We might not

have a chance to get back to the Hub, and the microtron weighs about 2

tons."

"Ah, that thing kills people." said Ianto.

"I saved Martha with it."

"Like a shot."

"Listen, you two. You better start trustin' me, okay? I bin working' on it and I

reckon I got it sussed. Beside, with that Nostrovite around we really don't

have too any options."

"He's got a point." said Ianto.

"What is it with you? Ever since Owen's died, all you ever do is agreeing with

him."

"I was brought up never to speak ill of the dead. Even if they still do most of

the talking themselves."

"Okay, Owen. But you better be sure you know what you're doin'."

As the wedding was taking place, we were driving towards them.

"How much further?" asked Owen.

"A few minutes." replied Ianto

"What I don't understand, is if people are gonna make such a big deal

about getting married, why come all the out into the middle of nowhere where

no one can find ya to do it? That to me, suggests inner conflict." I stated.

"It's because the happy couple want everything to be perfect." said

Ianto.

"An alien egg in your belly and the mother coming to rip you open. Yeah,

perfect." added Owen.

We got to the ceremony just before the vows were taken. I burst in. "Stop!

Stop it! Stop the wedding! Hold on! Gwen, believe me, I'm sorry. But

this has to stop now."

"What the hell you doin'?" asked Rhys.

"Jack, I've told you. I am marrying Rhys."

"No now. You can't."

"Butt out Jack. You've screwed things up enough between me and Gwen.

You are not going to mess up our weddin'."

"Listen, I'm trying to save Gwen's life. Yours, too."

Owen and Ianto went looking for Tosh.

"There were two of them?" asked Gwen.

"Man Pan Nostrovite they hunt in pairs. But childbirth is more of a...three

way. He finds and impregnates a host. She then comes in like the midwife

from hell. Hanging around, watching, waiting. Until the time is right. Then it

gets messy."

"So, do you think it's near?" asked Rhys.

"She's a shape shifter, Rhys. She could be out there making small talk with

your mum and dad."

"We're not stopping' the wedding." stated Gwen.

"Gwen, there isn't a choice here."

"Ever since I've met you Jack, all Rhys has had to put up with with me is….is

crap. The lies, the danger, the complications. But he stood by me. Who else

would do that. Who else… would marry me, knowing I am carryin' some kind

of monster inside me? I love him and I'm goin' to marry him, today."

"Thanks, but it is my wedding too. Do I get a say?"

Screams came from another room. We all went straight there.

"That's all we need." This from Owen.

"Ianto, after the girl. I need this contained."

"Jack!"

"Oh, god! I want Gwen out of here, now, Jack."

"Jack, I've seen the shape shifter. It's a women. She's in black," said Tosh.

The girl ran into the hall, screaming.

"Jack, I'm afraid the situation is uncontained."

"Okay Ianto, get to the SUV. Jam the phone lines. The last thing we need is

someone callin' the police. Tosh, you're with me, we'll find that woman in

black. Gwen, Owen needs to operate, now."

"I want her safe, Jack, now." said Rhys.

"I want her safe too, Rhys, so we do what I say."

"Rhys, Jack knows what he's doin', darlin' okay?"

"Look, if we run, the Nostrovite will be waitin' for us, and we're runnin' out of

time."

"What's the plan, Jack." asked Gwen.

"I've got a plan." said Owen.

All hell broke loose then. We fired at the Nostrovite, but it was too fast for

us.

Owen was going to operate on Gwen, but the shape shifter tricked Owen.

"I'm not an alien," said Rhys' mum.

"And the Lone Ranger didn't have a thing with Tonto." I said.

It was Brenda and Rhys hit me for calling her an ugly bitch.

Eventually I managed to kill the shape shifter, with a bigger gun, after it had

changed into me, and Owen shot it. Overkill really. Rhys used the scalpel on

Gwen and killed the alien baby. The wedding went ahead. It was a great day

after all.

I was jealous of Rhys. I still had feelings for Gwen. I thought I'd managed to clear her out of my system, now that I was with Ianto. [sorry Ianto]

They played one of Ianto's songs that he'd dedicated to me, in his 'Jack's

Top Ten'. It was "You Do Something To Me" by Paul Weller. They didn't know

that though. Then I thought, Ianto was DJing. _He _played that record.

"Enjoy the honeymoon." I said to Gwen, while we were dancing.

"I will. What will you do while I'm away?" Gwen asked.

"Oh, the usual. Pizza. Ianto. Save the world a couple of times." I laughed.

Gwen asked if I'd miss her. She knew I would.

Just then, Ianto cut in.

"May I um….?"

Gwen thought he wanted to dance with her. He wanted to dance with me.

Maybe I wasn't so bad off after all. Ianto loved me. Gwen was lost to me

know. I had to concentrate on Ianto, or loose him, too. I couldn't bare that.

I gave the whole wedding party retcon.

"That's what I love about Torchwood. By day chasing the scum of the

universe, come midnight you're the wedding fairy." quipped Ianto.

He was right, of course.

They all went home after the wedding, including Ianto.

I went back to the Hub. I sorted through some old photos…. my wedding day. [never told you before, sorry again, Ianto]


	10. Chapter 10

**In The Beginning Chapter 10**

I was put into a trance once.

A strange sound was coming in over the phone line, had already claimed one victim, to our knowledge. I just had to answer that damn phone.

A few seconds later, and I was out for the count. I don't remember much, except Ianto being at my side, talking to me.

This is what I remember…

"They say you're supposed to talk to people when they're in a coma, don't they?" _Pause_. "I have absolutely no idea whether you can hear me, Jack." _Pause._ "I never heard of anybody coming out of one and carrying on the conversation." _Nervous laugh._ "So I suspect it's something the doctors tell us to do, to make us feel better, rather than help you." _Another pause_. "We don't feel quite so useless and helpless. We get the feeling there's still some sort of purpose in our lives. We're not just waiting. Waiting for the science to work, or the miracle to happen. Or the nightmare to end." _Pause_. " I'm not much of a talker Jack, you know that. But I'll talk to you know on the off chance that it helps. Just promise me, if you're hearing this that when you come round, and you're going to Jack. You're gonna come out of this. Just promise me you'll never bring up anything I say to you now." _Pause_. " How's that? We got a deal?" _Long pause_. "This must be the longest I've ever looked at you, and not seen you smile. I've watched you in your sleep. Did you know that? So many times. Just woken up beside you in the middle of the night, and watched you. Watched your eyes moving behind your eyelids as you dreamed, and tried to imagine what a man like you could possibly dream about. The things you've seen. The lives you've lives. The people you've loved. I wondered if you were dreaming about me. I hoped you were dreaming about me. But let's be honest Jack, I'm nothing more than a blip in time for you. Every day, I grow a little older. But you're immortal. You've already lived a thousand lifetimes. How could you watch me grow old and die? How can I watch you live, and never age a day? I suppose, we both know that will never be a problem. Not in this job. No one in Torchwood ever lives to draw their pension, do they?" _His voice trembles. _"Even if by some miracle I live to see my hair turn grey, or, or god forbid, fall out, I don't kid myself that you'd still be around to see it. One day, you'll go again. Just like you did before, and this time, you won't be back." _Controls his emotions_. "Maybe that's what you're dreaming about those nights when I watch you sleeping. Maybe that's why, even when you sleep, I see you smile. But you haven't gone yet Jack. I know that. I know you're coming back to me."

I heard every word. If I could have moved, I would have taken him in my arms and held him close. Told him everything was okay. That I was fine.

When I came out of the trance, and we were alone, Ianto asked….

"So, you don't remember anything about the trance?"

"No. Did you talk to me while I was out of it? They say that's what you should do."

"I talked, a little. But I'm not really much of a talker."

"I know."

"But that's just me."

"Yeah. But you never will be just a blip in time, Ianto Jones. Not for me."

That evening was really special. I'll leave it to your imagination.

Not too smutty now. Kids might read this.

_As if._


	11. Chapter 11

**In The Beginning Chapter 11**

The day the children of earth stopped what they were all doing and were just like status was a time I don't want to remember. It is too painful. But it has to be told.

Every child in every town and city all over the world stood still. Not moving. Like stone. It was the start of something too big for one Government. But not for Torchwood. I had a vested interest.

We were at the hospital. An elderly man, Mr Williams, died and we knew there was something underlined about his death. Ianto and I went into his room after he died. We needed to remove something from his insides. Something alien. We managed to bluff our way passed the doctor.

"He thought we were together, like a couple. He said you two. The way he said it, like 'you two'." Ianto laughed nervously.

"Well, we are. Does it matter?"

"Dunno. It's all a bit new to me, that's all. Laser saw."

"Thank you." I cut open Mr Williams stomach. "Tongs."

"Tongs."

I started to pull a strange organ out of his stomach. "Almost … got it,"

The doctor return just then.

We removed the parasite from his body. The doctor saw it.

I pulled until the organ came out. "There," I held it up. "Now, look at it. That's not human, is it? Does that look human? No, it does not. It's just a hitchhiker he picked up. Didn't kill him."

"Some say they are positively beneficial. They release endorphins into the bloodstream. He died a happy man, and I've got Tupperware."

"And we're very considerate. We don't leave any mess." I closed the wound up. "Thank you very much."

"We'll just get out of your way," said Ianto.

The doctor followed us out into the car park.

"You're Torchwood."

"Don't know what you mean." I said.

He told me about bodies going missing. I turned to Ianto.

"What do you think?" I asked Ianto.

"NHS."

"Yeah, too much red tape."

We drove off.

After the hospital, Ianto and I went into the Hub and we were joking between us.

Gwen got into the Hub before us.

"You are going to get us killed," said Ianto.

"No, you get killed, not me. You die like a dog, like an ugly dog."

Gwen interrupted us. "Hey, Chuckle Brothers."

We'd already been likened to a 'couple', something that Ianto wasn't used to yet. Now, brothers, er hum.

Gwen explained about road traffic accidents involving children standing in the street, all over the world.

Ianto checked another monitor. "That'll be the school run. Sweden. France. Fifteen road traffic accidents Norway. Denmark. Spain. Bosnia. All happening at the same time"

"Seen anything like this before, Jack?" asked Gwen.

"No. Kids." I answered.

I was talking on the phone to a Lois Abiba. She didn't know what Torchwood was. Where had she been hiding?

I wanted to recruit a new doctor, Rapesh Pathenjarli. The one from the hospital.

He was wondering around outside.

"You're right he's back." said Ianto.

I laughed. "I said so."

"Who's back?" asked Gwen.

"What's he doing?"

"Waiting, just like you said. He's been there twenty minutes."

"Persistent."

"Good sign."

"Dogmatic."

"Always a plus."

"Oh, Christ. Now you're a couple, you two talk like twins. Now tell me who he is?"

"Rapesh Pathenjarli. He saw the hitchhiker. He's the 'bodies going missing' man."

"Dr Rapesh Pathenjarli. We need a doctor."

"And what, you just let him follow you?"

"Ask about Torchwood and most people point towards the Bay." Ianto said, smiling.

"You bastards! That's exactly what you did to me when we first met. Well, sod that, I'm promoting myself to recruitment officer."

Gwen went out to interview him.

"She's calling us a couple now," said Ianto.

"What's your problem?"

"I'm just saying…."

"I hate the word couple." I said, walking away.

"Me, too." he replied.

I suppose we were a couple, but I hated being called that. I think it upset Ianto a little, but hey, I tell it like it is. It doesn't take away what we are to each other, just doesn't put us in a box, as it were. I suppose I was a little unkind to him….

_Sorry, kiddo_


	12. Chapter 12

**In The Beginning Chapter 12**

The Government knew what was going on, but they didn't want Torchwood involved.

But we were going to investigate on our own.

"So I think it's a broadcast." I said.

"Like a mosquito alarm." said Ianto. "That only the children can hear."

"Every child and one man," said Gwen. "He's in East Grinstead." Gwen looked at me. "Well, I'm off then."

While Gwen went off to see Timothy White, Ianto and I sat outside the Hub on the steps. It was deserted.

"Lunchtime. This place should be buzzing with kids." I said.

"Everyone's taken them home."

"We need a child. Cos we need to test those frequencies, find the right frequency and we can find out who's transmitting."

"Where do you get a child, though? I can find you lasers, Weevils, and hitchhikers, but kids?"

I stood up and tapped Ianto on the knee. "See you later."

"Where are you going?" he asked.

I turned to look at him. "Now who's a couple?"

I went to see my daughter, Alice…. Yes, daughter. She had a son, Stephen.

I was chatting with Alice. She didn't really want me seeing too much of her or Stephen. To him, I was Uncle Jack.

"You ever gonna tell him?"

"What do I say? That you're his grandfather?"

"Well, he's too young to notice right now, that I don't age. But one day he's gonna realize…"

"And that's another good reason for you to stay away."

"I suppose. I could make the most of it while he's still young. Take him out. Buy him stuff. Me and him sort of thing."

"You mean today?"

"While I'm here, I may as well."

"Arh, you bastard! Something happens to the kids and you wanna spend time with him the same day. You are not experimenting on that boy, dad. Not ever. That's why I want you to stay away, because you're dangerous."

Ianto went to see his sister.

"Sit down," his sister told him. "We got things to talk about."

Ianto eyed her.

"You've been see!"

Ianto was sat down having a cup of tea with his sister.

"Susan on the corner was in town and it was her anniversary, so they went to that posh French place in town, by the memorial. And there was you," she stated.

"Sooo?"

"There was you, having dinner, with a man."

Ianto laughed. "So?"

"Having dinner with a man, in a restaurant."

"So, you have dinner with Tina."

"Not in town. Susan said he was gorgeous. Like a film star. Like an escort."

"He's my boss."

"Well, she said it was intimate. I said, well he's had girlfriends. She said well no girl was getting their feet round that table, no chance. Have you gone bender?"

"Micha's hearing this."

"She's not bothered. Her friend Sharn's got two mothers. Go on." Pause. "You never tell me anything these days. Dad died, that was it, you were off, you couldn't wait. Like I did something wrong. I didn't, did I?"

"It's not that…. It's my job. It's difficult, it's…Hum, he is very handsome."

"No!"

"Now stop it."

"You're kiddin' me? Really, though. Really. Christ all mighty! He's nice though, is he? Is he? Oh, my… I mean, since when?"

"It's weird. It's just different. It's not…. men. It's.. it's just him. It's only him, and I don't even know what it is really so, so I'm not broadcasting it."

"Oh, no, honest, I won't say. If you want it kept quiet. I swear I won't say a thing."

No, but she told her wise mouthed husband.

"Hello, gay boy. She says you take it up the arse." he laughed.

"Thanks," Ianto said to his sister.

While they were talking, Ianto had the car stolen. How was he going to explain that to me?

Gwen started to interview Timothy White, winning his confidence first..

He could sense things from just smelling her hand.

"You've met them," he said.

"Dozens of them. What's your name? Your real name? When was the last time you spoke your name?"

"Never! They drove us away at night. Miles away. There was a light. It took them… my friends."

"But not you?"

"I ran. There was something… people…"

"I need to know your name."

"I was Clem… Clement McDonald."

"In Scotland. The Holy Tree."

"You're pregnant I can smell it."

"No, I can't be."

"Yes, three weeks."

I looked at Clem.

"Congratulations."


	13. Chapter 13

**In The Beginning Chapter 13**

I was at the hospital chatting with Rapesh Pathenjarli, when he shot me. Pathenjarli was also killed, shot in the back. He was positioned next to me. Was it a warning? Were they after him or me?.

When Gwen got back to the Hub, she scanned herself. Sure enough she was pregnant.

I came into the Hub and spoke with Ianto.

"They killed the doctor." I told Ianto.

"Did they kill you?"

"Yeah."

He gave me a hug, patting my back.

"Maybe we're being targeted, I better warn Gwen."

"She's in the lab."

I noticed the scan of Gwen. The baby.

"Oh, my god. Is that… How long?"

"Three weeks."

"Is that good. It is isn't it? From where I'm standing it looks good to me."

"Yeah. Bloody 'ell. It's brilliant."

"Ianto, we're having a baby."

"Congratulations. Is this a good time to tell you I lost the car?"

"You did what?" I turned back to Gwen. "You told Rhys?"

"I've only just found out myself."

"He's gonna love that."

"It's brilliant!" Gwen said, referring to the baby.

I put my hand over hers. The scanner went mental.

"What the hell is that?" asked Gwen.

"It's a bomb! There's a bomb on your stomach!" exclaimed Ianto.

"Get out now, both of you! Right now!"

"We can do something. We can rip it out of you!"

"Get out, now!"

"It's active. Two minutes." Ianto said.

I pushed Gwen towards the Information Centre door.

"I can't leave you!"

"You're pregnant."

She left, reluctantly.

Ianto was busy at one of the terminals.

"Ianto you're gonna get locked inside. Ianto move!"

"I can over ride the mechanism!"

"For Gods sake, get up!"

"There'll be nothing left of you!"

"I can survive anything!"

I had to drag Ianto to the secret lift. Before pushing him onto it, I kissed him passionately. I didn't know if he would survive. I prayed he would. Seeing him ascend, almost broke my heart.

"I'll come back. I always do." I promised him.

Then I blew up, along with the Hub.

My body, what was left of it, was taken to a secure unit in a body bag and put into a cell. I slowly began to rebuild myself.

Ianto got a message out to his sister, and met her.

"Hey."

"Oh, my god! What happened to you?" she asked.

"I'm not sure yet." he looked around to make sure they weren't being watched.

"I wasn't followed. Sit down."

"You worked out my little code then?"

"Dad didn't break your leg on purpose you know."

"He pushed me too 'ard. He always did."

"You should have held on tighter. Seriously, how did you get in that state?"

"A bomb. It was meant for me and the people I work with."

"My god, why?"

"I don't know."

"What sort of civil servants are you?"

"Unappreciated ones." Ianto forced a smile

"Are they okay, the people you work with?"

"I dunno. Gwen's alive. I've just no way of contacting her. I'm not sure about Jack."

"Is he your boss? The one Susan saw you with?"

"He'll be okay. They won't get rid of him that easy. I just need to find him."

Just then it went quiet. All the children stopped moving again. Like statues.

I awoke, naked and chained.

"Face me like a man." I shouted. Just before they encased me in cement.

But true to form, Gwen, Rhys and Ianto came to my rescue.

Ianto broke into my cement cell and ripped the whole thing out. He took me to a quarry and dropped the block over the edge. Good work. The block shattered into pieces, releasing me.

"I told you I'd be back," I told Ianto, as I stood before him, Gwen and Rhys naked.

We went to an old Torchwood One holding warehouse.

"This is us. This is Torchwood. This is home." Ianto said, after breaking into the warehouse.

Rhys light a fire.

Ianto and I were sat on a sofa.

"I'm freezing," Gwen said.

"Is anyone going to see us here with all this fire?"

"Was abandoned in the 90's." Ianto told them.

"Rusting away for years," I said.

"So, what do we do? Just sit here?"

"Worse than that. Do I have to stay in these clothes? I mean, come on. Tracksuit bottoms. Not a good look."

And they were probably Rhys'.

"Jack, they're arriving today. That alien voice thing said today and we're stuck in the back end of beyond."

I patted the sofa beside me, and Gwen sat.

"Yeah, but we're together. The old team. We're down, but not out, yeah? We survived worse than this. Besides I don't know how much fighting you should do in your condition."

"What does that mean? He knows your pregnant. You told him before me, didn't you?" asked Rhys.

"Rhys, he just happened to be there, and it happened really, really fast."

"Last to know. Last to bloody know. Well thank you very much." Rhys walked away.

I smiled.

"Couldn't you just keep it shut?" spat Gwen.

"The old team All together," mimicked Ianto, dryly.

All through this, my daughter had been trying to get in touch with me.

We didn't have any money. No phones. Credit cards. So, Gwen taught us how to get what we wanted, by stealing it. But we did have guns.

Ianto and Rhys even staged a diversionary fight. It was good, I have to admit.

We pooled all our booty when we got back to the warehouse. Rhys wrote 'HUB 2' on the wall.


	14. Chapter 14

**In The Beginning Chapter 14**

Ianto came back with an armful of shopping.

"I see we've got a new car outside. Nice, very smart."

"Where've you been? We thought you'd got arrested." I asked.

"Just buying essentials. Huff. Technology is one thing, but let's not forget the creature comforts. Coffee, obviously. Got some do dar," he held up toilet rolls.

"Thanks god!" said Gwen.

"And more importantly. I didn't know your exact sizes, but I reckon I got a good eye." Ianto handed Gwen and Rhys carrier bags.

"Oh, brilliant. I am stinking." said Gwen.

"Arh, nice one." Rhys said.

"And for you, sir," Ianto handed me a brown paper package. "Army surplus special."

"Arh, you're kidding me."

Ianto smiled broadly, holding out his arms.

I went off and changed into the clothes Ianto bought. Greatcoat, light blue shirt, white tee shirt, black trousers and brown desert style boots. Perfect.

"I'm back." I told them.

They clapped.

We got onto the laptop that we 'borrowed'.

"And we're in." I said.

"Just like the old days." replied Ianto.

"Patch into new channels, see what's happening."

"Black, no sugar, yeah?" Rhys put a cup of coffee in front of me.

We got in touch with Lois Abiba.

She was out only contact on the outside world.

Things were happening to us, and I wasn't sure who we could now trust. We had to stay on our toes. I had to keep Ianto, Gwen and Rhys safe.

Gwen was with Lois, trying to persuade her to wear contact lenses that had built in cameras in the, into the room where the 456 would be. It wasn't going to be easy convincing her.

Ianto and I chatted.

"What did it feel like. I mean, gettin' blown up?" Ianto asked me.

"Wasn't the best of days."

"No, but, did you feel it? Or did everything just go blank?"

"I felt it."

"Shit." He looked away.

"Yeah."

"D'ya ever think that one day your luck will run out? That you won't come back?"

"I'm a fixed point in time and space, that's what the Doctor says. I think that means it's forever."

"So, one day you will see me die of old age and just keep goin'?"

"Yeah."

"We better make the most of it then."

"I suppose." I turned back to the computer screen.

"Like right now?"

I smiled. "Ianto, the world could be ending."

"The world's always ending, and I have missed that coat."

I had to smile.

"Rhys, do you wanna take the car and go to the shops down by the wharf. We need some disks for these things. Should take about 20 minutes."

"Thirty minutes." said Ianto.

"Thirty."

"I'll go later, the beans are nearly done."

I turned back to Ianto, I couldn't hide my smile. "The beans are nearly ready."

Ianto frowned. "Bloody beans."

Ianto continued to use the laptop. Bought up pictures of three other people killed on the same day I was blown up.

"Show me how they looked 40 years ago," I asked him.

He did.

"Who are they, Jack? Do you know them?"

"I never knew there names."

"Who were they? Jack, tell me. Did you know them?"

I got my coat and ran out of the warehouse.

"Jack!"

I called the people at Thames House. They had my daughter and grandson.

Back at the warehouse, Clem was eating and chatting with Gwen. He pointed to Ianto. "And who's the queer?"

"Oi!" said Ianto, annoyed. "It's not 1965 anymore."

"He's queer, I can smell it."

Lois put the contact lenses in and went in with the 456. She didn't want to get too close, so wrote in short hand. Ianto read it. [another hidden talent]

"We came here," started the 456. "You have no significant. You are middlemen." then laughed. "We have a request. We want a gift. We want your children. We will take your children."

"He's coming, he's coming, he's coming…." Clem said over and over again.

I enter the warehouse.

"He hasn't changed. He's the same, the same. All those years. How can he be the same?"

"Is he talking about Jack?"

"It was easier if they didn't know their names." I said.

"You were there, in 1965?" Gwen asked.

"He was the man"

"No this is what he does. He fights aliens. Isn't that right, Jack?"

"No."

"Then what were you doing there?"

"I gave them the kids….. 1965 I gave them 12 children."

"What for?"

"As a gift."

"You are in every nightmare I've ever had."

"I'm sorry. I'm really sorry." I walked towards Clem.

Clem grabbed Gwen's gun and shot me dead.

"Give me the gun. Clem"

"You're on his side, and he's on their side."

Gwen took the gun from Clem. Then I came back to life, Ianto was holding me. Clem was horrified, and ran off.

I went to sit next to Ianto.

"I can't believe you didn't mention this before." said Ianto.

"I didn't speak through kids back then, I didn't recognise the signs at first."

"That's not what I meant." answered Ianto, a bit pissed off.

"They're coming back," said Rhys.

"The man who sent me and my friends to die, can't die himself."

"Is this still recording Ianto? I need every second of this," said Gwen looking at the laptop screen.

"Yep." he replied, sadly.

A camera zoomed in on something in with the 456.

"What is what?"

"It's a child."

"Where did they get him from?"

"One of the children from 1965."

"He's still just a child" I said.

"I wonder if he knows," said Rhys.

Ianto began to read the writings of Lois again. "We do not harm the children. They feel no pain. They live long beyond their years."

"Well, that's okay then," said Gwen sarcastically.

"But we still don't know. What does it do with them? What does it want them for?"

"They're asking them now. 'We have answered your question. You have one day to select and deliver 10%'."

"And if we refuse?"

"We will wipe out your entire species."

Ianto followed me to another part of the warehouse.

"This must have been eating away at you." pause. "Why didn't you tell me. I could've helped."

"No, you couldn't."

"I tell you everything."

"Yeah, so tell me, what should I have done?"

"Stood up to them. The Jack I know would have stood up to them…. I've only just scrapped the surface, haven't I?"

"Ianto, that's all there is."

"No. You pretend that's all there is."

"I've lived a long time. I've done a lot of things. I've gotta go. I won't be long."

"You're doing it again. Speak to me Jack. Where are you going?"

"To call Frobisher. I can't make the call from here cos they'll be able to trace it. Is that okay?"

Ianto looked hurt. "You're the boss."

"And just so you know, I have a daughter called Alice and a grandson called Stephen and Frobisher took them hostage yesterday." Then I was gone, I felt like a heel after, but what was done was done. I'd apologize to Ianto later, in my own way.

I had to get my family back, that was the only thing on my mind right now. I'd make it up to Ianto, later, and that was a promise. I know he didn't understand everything I'd done in the past, concerning the children, but it was so clear to me back then. We never expected to ever see the 456 again. Let alone them return for more children and so many of them. They had to be stopped.


End file.
